Batch cooking: Making 'ready meals' from scratch is healthier and cheaper

Batch cooking: Making 'ready meals' from scratch is healthier and cheaper

THE ongoing debate between using ready meals versus cooking from scratch, the two big considerations are is it healthier and can you cook it cheaper, well I think it’s very safe to say that cooking with fresh ingredients is defiantly going to be healthier if we compare like for like, but can you always cook it cheaper than the supermarkets can?

Making delicious meals from scratch with simple ingrediants can help save money in the long run[GETTY]

Well the bad news is that there really is no definitive answer to the cost question as it varies considerably based on the meal itself and how many people you are feeding, for example if you are looking for a semi decent lasagne for two people, Tesco offer their finest for £6.00 throw in a garlic bread for £1.00 and the meal costs you £7.00 all in, but you would struggle to beat that price if you used quality ingredients from scratch coming in at over £10.00, but the same meal for a family of four wouldn’t cost anymore more from scratch at £10.00 saving you £4.00 on the ready meal version.

Some ready meal options just don’t add up no matter how many people you are cooking for, items like these can all be made cheaper from scratch and will taste far better:

All of the above can be made for a fraction of the cost compared to their ready meal counterparts, and they are simple to make and taste much better.

But there is a way of getting the best of both worlds and saving a fortune at the same time. By making meals in larger quantities you save on buying the ingredients and cooking time, so instead of making a Shepard’s pie or lasagne for four people, make it for eight and freeze the rest in single portion sizes.

Not only will this prove cost effective and taste good, you have created your very own brand of family ready meals to use as and when you like.

If you want to find some great ideas for food which can be pre-prepared and cooked in advance visit Netmums.com for the recipes that work and MySupermarket.co.uk to find the cheapest ingredients.

But it’s not just about what you are cooking that you need to bear in mind, it’s how you cook it too, microwaves are a far more efficient use of energy in the home, so once you have cooked your food use the microwave to reheat it instead of the oven, to give you an idea of what this looks like to your bank account, a microwave used once a day uses about £15.00 of electricity a years compared to approx. £33.00 if you were to use an electric oven.

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